4 essential skills you need to be the perfect manager.

Samantha ThorneMarketer and Strategist

November 27, 2018

Are you ready to step it up a notch in the workplace in 2019? If you’re thinking about a promotion, it usually means you’ll have more people responsibility. So here’s our quick checklist on what it takes to be an effective team leader.

In terms of workplace essentials, good managers are up there with a working coffee machine.

The perfect manager ensures everyone on the team knows what their tasks are and has the skills and confidence to do them well. These leaders inspire others, help where they can, and take on added responsibilities.

But how?

Nobody starts out with a full set of perfect leadership skills, but many of these qualities can be learned. Here are four skills you’ll need to be a good manager:

1. Effective communication skills.

Communication skills are important for any worker, but a manager more so than most. These skills will help you to build relationships between yourself and colleagues, employees, and clients, which creates trust and allows for more honest dialogue.

Without effective communication, issues are harder to resolve, innovative ideas are harder to bring to the table and employees are less motivated to follow your lead.

2. Creativity.

Creativity is one of those less conventional manager skills that often gets overlooked but is one of the most useful tools any leader can possess.

As a manager, your job will vary daily as you deal with new challenges, unique issues, and demanding time constraints. Creativity is a huge asset in dealing with the myriad of hurdles that come your way each day, as it will help you find solutions to problems you have never before encountered. Additionally, being creative will help you find new ways to motivate your team and encourage higher quality in their work.

3. Organisation.

Being organised is an exceptionally underrated skill. Were you the one in university to hand in essays several days early? Are you the one who organises accommodation and transport for holidays? This attribute is vital in any management role, even if it is one of the less glamorous ones.

Effective management takes organisation. Organisation of tasks, employees, priorities, meetings, and everything in between. This skill will help you coordinate between departments and ensure deadlines are met, and to have real strategies to meet and exceed targets.

Fortunately, you can boost your organisation skills with management courses anywhere in the country.

4. Listening skills.

Listening skills are related to, but ultimately different from, good communication skills. Someone who is a strong listener is able to take on feedback without getting defensive, truly listen to issues from staff and employees alike, and to really understand what’s needed in any situation.

If you’re not listening properly, it’s easy to write off issues or misunderstand the real problem at hand. But those who do listen can accurately assess, and therefore work to fix or improve, any situation.

Listening skills are another area you can improve through leadership courses.

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Author

Samantha ThorneMarketer and Strategist

Samantha is a Sydney based content marketer and strategist with a BA in Linguistics and MA in Publishing. Her work has been published by some of Australia’s biggest tech companies including Canva, OpenAgent and Finder.com.au